Regulatory Plan 2006-07

The Department of Health and Ageing's 2006-07 Regulatory Plan

Page last updated: 17 January 2007

The Department of Health and Ageing, like other Australian Government agencies which have responsibility for business regulation, is required to publish a regulatory plan on its web site early in each financial year.

The regulatory plan deals with changes within the Department’s area of responsibility and contains information about:

changes to business regulation which have occurred since the beginning of the previous financial year (1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006); and

activities planned in the current financial year (1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007) which could lead to changes to business regulation.

What regulation does a regulatory plan cover?

A regulatory plan covers business regulation. This includes primary legislation, subordinate legislation, quasi-regulation or treaties that directly affect business, have a significant indirect effect on business, or restrict competition.

Quasi-regulation refers to rules or arrangements where governments influence businesses to comply, but which do not form part of explicit government regulation.

A regulatory plan does not include information about the following:

regulations of a minor or machinery nature that do not substantially alter existing arrangements;

regulations that involve consideration of specific Government purchases;

regulations of a state or self-governing territory that apply in a non-self governing territory; and

anticipated activity about which it would be inappropriate to publish information on grounds of confidentiality.

In addition, there may be regulatory activities that have not been included in the regulatory plan because they could not be foreseen when the plan was prepared at the start of the financial year.

In view of these exclusions, users should not take a regulatory plan to be a comprehensive source of information on past or potential changes to business regulation.